Dreadnok forever
by Isis4
Summary: Zarana tells Zanya why she stayed with Zartan and the gang.
1. Chapter 1: Family reunion

DISCLAIMER: "GI Joe: A Real American Hero" and its characters belong to Sunbow Productions, Marvel, Hasbro & Devil's Due Publishing. I'm using the characters and situations without permission. No money is being made, so no infringement of the copyright law is intended.

Dear reader: This is an attempt to combine elements from both cartoon and comics: The romance between Zarana and Mainframe from the cartoon episodes and Mainframe's death from comic issue #25.

Dreadnok Forever

Chapter one: Family reunion

"_Enjoy your family reunion" Firefly said and fled. The truth is I didn't pay attention to what he said, since I was pissed off and struggling with the damn explosive that he stuck on my chest. _

_As soon as I took the bomb off me, it blasted and a few seconds later I hear someone asking me to turn around._

_Although the blast blinded me for a moment, I turned around quickly and faced him. The guy jumped on me and then I noticed he was wearing a mask._

_He had two blades, one in each hand. He wounded my left arm with one of the blades and I managed to squeeze his right hand so strongly that he had no choice but to let the blade fall to the floor. We wrestled some more, until I fell to the floor. The blade was just in front of me, so I took it._

"_Pushed me away! Last time you do that!" I heard him say._

"_Dunno who you are, mate," I told him and turned. He was already jumping over me again, but I stabbed him fast and straight to his stomach, saying, "And you couldn't say __**anything**__ to make me care!" _

_(Sighs and shakes his head.)_

_How wrong I was! _

_He coughed and took his mask off..._

_It was Zandar. _

_His last words were for you, sister, he said: "Tell Zarana... tell her I'm sorry."_

_You know the rest._

_(Sighs again, gulps down his beer and stares to the fire.)_

_I swear Firefly will pay for this! Damn bastard! I swear it!_

Silence followed the story Zartan had just told to his sister and daughter, who were with him, Zanya to his left, Zarana to his right, gathered around the fire. Zanya, drinking her soda, was staring at the beautiful dark sky and the full moon that illuminated the serene night at the swamp. Zarana and Zartan, beer in hand, had their eyes fixed on the flames.

"_Pushed me away! Last time you do that!"_

Zarana couldn't help thinking of those words. Now she finally knows the answer.

_Why Zandar tried to kill Zartan? How he dared to betray Zartan, the Dreadnoks, even herself to join "The Coil" and Serpentor?_

The questions had been torturing her since she saw him, wounded, almost dead.

"_Zandar?" She saw Zartan carrying her twin brother in his arms._

"_What the hell happened?" She asked with dismay at the sight of his clothing, soaked with blood. She saw his wounds and tears began to fill her eyes, thinking there was nothing left to do. _

"_I think I killed him!" She remembered Zartan's voice, sad and with a great amount of guilt._

"_YOU? You wounded him? Why?" The picture of her brothers fighting to death almost drives her to insanity._

"_He's alive!" Zanya called out, "Dad, see, he's coughing!"_

Zarana sighs with relief at the memories of the day before.

Zandar will live and then her brothers will have the opportunity to solve their differences.

Zandar is back. They will be a family again.

"_Pushed me away! Last time you do that!"_

She was sorry because she never noticed what was wrong with Zandar and now realizes that sometimes she feels the same since...

"Dad, what will happen with uncle Zandar? I mean, he betrayed you! What will you do to him?"

...Since the unfortunate day Zanya invaded their lives.

For Zarana, the question was so annoying as the person that just asked it. She glared at her niece and, since Zartan was still staring at the fire, quiet and thinking, she answered, "Zandar will join us again. He will lead the Dreadnoks just as he used to before you, _darling_ niece, claimed to be part of the royal family. Am I right, Zartan?"

Zarana's answer seemed more like a warning to both niece and brother. Zandar will never be ignored. Not anymore. She neither. No brat will take her place. If Zartan is the king, she is the queen of the Dreadnoks.

Zartan got the message and didn't like the authority she just dared to show him. The way she addressed his daughter wasn't kind either. He would let her know who really is in charge, who's the head of the family in a drastic way.

"Zandar is our brother and of course he will lead the Dreadnoks, along with **my daughter Zanya**, you and me," Zartan stressed. Not looking at the fire anymore, he fixed his green eyes on his sister and stated seriously, "We will get over this, we always do, isn't it, dear sister?"

Zartan kept staring at her, waiting for her reaction.

"I don't know what are you talking about," Zarana lied, but her pale face was turning red due to a mix of anger and embarrassment. Zartan was pretty sure that she knew exactly what he meant then.

"Zarana, please, let's be honest. We are family and there are no secrets between us. Now that Zanya is part of it, she should know that we have been through difficult times in the past. Zandar is not the only one who has betrayed me."

"Auntie? Is that true?" Zanya smirked, kind of surprised and getting a sense of superiority. Her aunt had flaws, which she could use later for her benefit, "Can't believe it!" Then she looked at her father, "I would never do such a thing to you, Dad. I would never betray the gang!"

"Yeah, right! Daddy's girl is sooo innocent!" Besides envy, Zarana felt a great repulsion toward Zanya. Her niece is simply an exact copy of what she was when she had her age, when her only purpose in life was to find her older brother to get his attention and to become his protégé.

"Yes, Zanya, you are the only one who has not tried to betray me yet," Zartan confessed and with sarcasm, gave her this warning, "If you ever have a boyfriend, just make sure he is on our side. Do not fall in love with our enemy. Do not fall in love with a..."

"That's enough, Zartan!" Zarana got up and, standing in front of him, tossed the beer bottle, hitting Zartan's left arm, right on his bandaged wounds.

Quickly, Zanya stood on her feet and dropped the soda can on the ground. "You hit Dad!" she snarled and tensed up.

"Arrgghh!" Zartan groaned, feeling a sharp pain while his sister kept saying... "How dare you! I won't let you talk about my private life in front of this brat!"

"You hag...!" Zanya was about to reach out her hand and slap her aunt on her face, but her father stopped her.

"Zanya, this is between your aunt and me! STAY AWAY! Grrr!" Zartan reached out his right arm and grabbed his sister by her jeans, tumbling her down to her knees. Struggling to get up, she could not escape the strong arms that pulled her to him. Their faces were so close that both could smell beer with each breath.

"I don't care how you feel," Zartan's green, deep gaze was starting to intimidate her. She knows her brother's rage is implacable, "Do you think I have forgotten what you tried to do to me once? Do you think you can just beg for forgiveness, return to me and live your life without paying eternally for what you did?"

Zarana now seemed vulnerable to his words. Haven't he noticed that she has been paying the price of betraying him? The price of leaving the only man she truly loved once every day of her life?

"That was years ago, brother! It is the past. I came back to you. Look at me! Here I am, by your side. I will never leave you again!" Fear has turned her submissive, hoping that it would be the end of this confrontation.

"Now, more than ever, I'm completely sure that you will never leave me again, sis."

Zarana looked puzzled.

"What? You have no idea of what I'm talking about, right?" Zartan chuckled and, grabbing her sister's chin, turned her head and whispered to her ear, "Your beloved Joe has died."

"Bullshit!" She pushed him and, free from the muscular arms that were holding her, stood up, "I don't believe you! You just say that because you want to piss me off!"

"It's true! I got a report this morning on yesterday's battle in Cobra Island." Zartan stood up, reached out his hand in one of his pants' pockets and started to unfold a sheet of paper. "There's also a list of the fallen Joes. Here, check it out!"

Zarana snatched it. The light of the full moon let her read clearly. The name "Blaine Parker" was the first on the list.

"Leave me alone!" She sighed and tore up the sheet of paper, tossing the pieces to the fire. She silently watched how the flames consumed every piece.

Seeing that the news got the result he expected, Zartan decides to leave, "Zanya, I think it's time for us to go. Your aunt wishes to be alone."

Zanya walked by her father's side. Suddently, after walking just a few steps, Zartan turned and cried out to his sister, "Cry sis, cry for your lost boyfriend, ahaaaa!"

Zanya looked back. Her aunt did nothing; she just kept staring at the fire.

"Dad, please, tell me the scoop," A curious Zanya pleaded while both of them were heading toward the cabin.

He stopped and warned her, not laughing, not angry, now very serious, "There's no "scoop". Don't even tell the Dreadnoks about what happened tonight. Concerning you... you will learn what it is all about, but not now, not today. That's something between my sister and me. What I want you to do is to leave her alone, is that clear?"

"Ah... ok, Dad," Zanya was confused. First, his father humiliates her aunt and now he is defending her!

Zartan got into the cabin, but she stayed at the porch. From there, she could see her aunt, seated by the fire again, staring at the full moon.

Zanya has seen her so many times like that, when there's full moon. Her aunt stays awake until late, alone, just like that.

So far, her curiosity has not been satisfied. After a few seconds of indecision, she decides to go back to her aunt. For Zanya, the family reunion is not over yet.


	2. Chapter 2: Something in common

Note: The events Zanya will recall in this chapter are based on comic issue #10, titled, "Family History" (Frontline).

Chapter II: Something in common

There was something to talk about with Aunt Zarana.

For the first time since she joined the family, Zanya needed to have a "little chat" with her aunt.

All the previous argument between her father and her aunt has made her discover that, beyond the 'family ties', they have something in common.

Like her Aunt Zarana, she also had a boyfriend… a young biker she adored but left to become a Dreadnok.

While she goes back to her aunt, mixed feelings arise within her. In a way, Zanya could understand what her aunt is feeling. Must be the same pain. A similar sense of guilt. Bitter memories, hidden tears she has never shared with no one else. However, the very thought of it upsets her. Her own Aunt made her suffer the same painful experience. She did nothing to stop it!

Or maybe it was a requisite to be a Dreadnok? No one, even herself, could break the cycle.

Her father was right then. Being a Dreadnok means to accept the risks and being who she is would make things more difficult. Besides, they all live by his rules. She just has seen it with her aunt, and has realized it was the same with her too.

She didn't see it that way before.

After 14 years, she finally had found her father. He offered her the choice of staying with him to become a Dreadnok, or to move on to live her life the way she wanted. Of course, she wanted to show him that she was willing to go the distance. At first, she didn't see it as a "taking your boyfriend out" test, but as good opportunity to won her father's admiration.

Until that night, she had never realized how painful it would be to do it and to remember it.

She felt nervous then, but managed to lie and act, making him believe that the only purpose of their "first job" was to check if the Prototype Amphibious ATVs were inside the warehouse in order to steal them.

"_Can you believe your luck? The three of us out here alone? We could take her out!" She remembered Kevin suggesting to get rid of her aunt, who were with them on that important event, "Say it was an accident. Just like that, she's outta picture!"_

_It sounded like a good idea, but she thought of her father and kept doing what was expected from her. "Yeah, I got it!" She said, pretending to agree and left._

_Kevin joined Zarana and entered the warehouse while she silently followed them according to the plan. Hidden behind a bunch of crates, she kept watching them…_

"_Zarana! Somethin's not right. I think these're luxury boats…" She saw Kevin looking under the covers._

"_Are you sure?" Zarana asked Kevin and looked around. She emerged from behind the crates and stepped out of her hide when Zarana made the signal. _

_All she wished then was to pass the test. The bitter memories that haunted her didn't make her hesitate. Her abusive mother, her screams, her insults, and all the mistreatment tensed up her body, accelerated her pulse, filled her soul with resentment, hatred, anger and all the strength necessary to do what she was about to do. _

_She got rid of her own mother when she was a kid and she did not feel bad about it, so getting rid of her boyfriend was something she could surely accomplish with no regrets._

_Confident on her success, she stood behind Kevin. He was about to taste the same punishment her opponents suffer during the street fights Kevin so many times arranged and Zanya fought to gain money from the bets. _

"_Zanya?" Startled, he turned his head. He looked at her as the great coward he was and immediately fell to the floor from the blow. _

_The unexpected tears that filled her eyes didn't stop her. She was on top of him, hitting Kevin's face very hard with her fists, giving him no chance to breathe, to recover, or to defend himself. _

_When he groaned from the pain, she hit him harder. Then tears rolled down her cheeks uncontrollably. At that moment, she realized that she really cared for him. She never cried for her mother the way she was crying for Kevin. The blood that was staining her fists, the man that moaned no more was her "first love"._

_She met Kevin when she had a fight after school. Kevin, a high school senior, was there, impressed at how a junior high school girl could beat a bunch of high school guys. A few weeks later both dropped out school and hit the road. Love wasn't exactly what she felt for the young biker at first, but his dream of becoming a Dreadnok and her secret wish to find her father was a very good reason to stick to him. Her love for him grew gradually. It began the first night together in a cheap motel room, when they made love their first time. No guy has ever touched her the way he did. He made her feel something new. Something other girls her age have not taste yet. She felt special, desirable, important, and useful by his side. Days passed by and she became more attached to him. Kevin was hers, so she felt jealous of every woman near her man, and of all the women Kevin flirted with. Sometimes he was rude, but she became used to that. After all, he was the best thing she ever had and they shared so many things, like the excitement of new cities, the street fights, the money… the same goal. _

_The dream would come true to her. Only to her, to the daughter of the great Zartan. She was only doing what her father asked her to do, what she chose to fulfill her dream of being with her father and becoming a Dreadnok. _

"_Leave Kevin," Zanya finally put and end to the brutal pounding and said between sobs, looking at the unconscious young man, "Leave and don't ever come back." _

_She turned, wiping her own tears away. _

" _That's it. You passed…" Her aunt Zarana grabbed her by the shoulders and whispered to her ear, "But this changes nothing between us." _

With these last words, Zanya stood a few steps behind her aunt. Absorbed in her thoughts and still staring at the full moon, Zarana did not notice the presence of her niece.

Thinking of how to start a conversation with her aunt made her hesitate for a moment. Does the fact that both of them have something in common will change something between them?

Like any typical teenager, Zanya wanted to try and see for herself. Curious, she asked, indiscreetly,

"Aunt Zarana, You fell in love with a Joe, right?"

"Huh?" Zarana turned, startled. She despicably stared at her niece, acting as if she didn't care about the question and said, "Go away! Leave me alone!"

Zanya, doing the opposite, stood in front of her aunt, "It happened the same to ya, ain't that right?"

Zarana looked puzzled.

"My father asked ya to left him, like I left Kevin," Zanya added.

"Kevin? Oh yeah, that chap. He was so _insignificant_," Zarana recalled him, still showing a complete disregard for the subject.

Accustomed to her indifference, Zanya crouched in front on the cold-hearted aunt and, fixing her eyes on hers, tried again, "We have somethin' in common, Auntie. Now things could change between us, don't ya think?"

Zarana's gaze was still impenetrable. Dissapointed, Zanya heard her say firmly, "Like I told you once, nothing will change between us. I am not interested in what you and I may "have in common". Now, go away and stop bothering me!"

Feeling stupid and profoundly upset, Zanya stood up. Her body was tensed up again and willing to face her aunt once and for all, now convinced that things would stay the same.

"Ya know what? I'm sick of you and the way you treat me! What I have done to you? Huh?" Zanya snarled, "Nothing! I've done you nothing!"

"You runt!" Zarana got up, and, in an effort to control her impulse to fight her niece, crossed her arms on her chest and warned her, "Leave! Don't make me do something stupid!"

"I should have done what Kevin told me!" Zanya impetuously confessed, driven by anger, "He warned me about you! He thought we should dispose of ya because ya think that I wish to take yer place!"

"Eliminate me? Kevin and you? Ha!" Zarana chuckled, coming closer to her niece to intimidate, "That clown was pretty smart! Because that's exactly what I think of you. You can't fool me!"

"Ya are wrong!" Zanya stepped back to avoid any physical contact. Thinking twice, she recalled what her father said and decided that she didn't wish to get in trouble. Also thought about how to end the false accusations and the misunderstanding, so finally spat out the truth, "The only thing I ever wanted was to find my father."

"Oh! That was cute!" Zarana said with sarcasm, taking the unexpected confession with skepticism, "I know Zanya… I know that you would like to be in my place. C'mon! Don't deny it!"

"No, I don't deny it! To tell ya the truth, sometimes _I envy you." _Zanya admitted, noticing a subtle expression of astonishment on her aunt's face, "I envy you because you are always by his side! He trusts so much in you! He doesn't tell me everything like he does with you. You know so much about him while I am just starting to know him! And the Dreads! They respect you, they see you their leader. They don't look at me the way they look at you! They still treat me like a pet!"

Zanya's words stunned Zarana. Couldn't help feel flattered by them either. However, she wouldn't get soft so easily. Resentment still keeps her doubtful. Her reaction was cruel sincerity, "You talk as if everything is perfect between my brother and me. Well, not everything is what it seems, Zanya. Let's take you for example. My brother never told me about your mother and he swears he never knew about your existence. Some things have changed since you showed up in our lives. My brother has discovered a "paternal duty" that has made him forgotten how much Zandar and I have worked for him… the years we have been together as a family and with the gang."

Zanya listed attentively. For the first time, she was having a true conversation with her aunt, "Zandar and I were his only living relatives, his only successors. But now you are here. You, Zanya, you are an obstacle to me. I've work very hard to get what you say it's "respect" and to became a Dreadnok leader. Being "the sister of the boss" has not made my life easier. It is tough, really tough. I've made sacrifices, I am totally devoted to my brother and this gang. And what do I get? Being second in line of succession to the throne when I used to be the first? The threat of being replaced by **you**? You are only fifteen years old! You shouldn't be enjoying the money and power my brother,** and I **have made because you haven't worked enough yet to deserve any of those privileges!"

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Zanya protested, "I am working hard and I also sacrificed someone really dear to me to be with my father!"

"What sacrifice? Kevin? Oh please!" Zarana couldn't believe her niece was so obsessed with that guy, "You are a fool! Zartan made you a favor when he asked you to get rid of that idiot!"

"A favor? To hit my boyfriend using my own hands and left him unconscious just to pass a test is a favor?" Zanya asked disconcerted and almost frustrated. Why her aunt was so hard with her? Why her aunt couldn't understand?

"Zanya, don't be naïve!" Zarana said with no delicacy, not caring about the fact that her niece was about to cry. "Your boyfriend was using you to gain money! Did you ever realize that?"

"You never got to know him! He loved me!" Zanya explained, totally convinced of what she was saying.

"Hmmm…" Zarana sighed, finally understanding that, when it comes to love, Zanya was still a naïve, somewhat innocent teenage girl who fell in love with the first guy she slept with. Like many women, she loved an idiot, a coward, a real flirt. A guy that was just using her. No woman, not even her niece, deserved such a man.

"You have to face it!" Zarana advised her, "Remember the day you told my brother you were his daughter? Well, that party didn't end after that. I saw your boyfriend flirting with a girl. When she asked him about you, he said that you were "_just a means to an end. That he owned you but you didn't own him". _Now, what do you have to say?"

Zanya didn't say a word and looked down to hold back the tears. She knew her aunt might be telling the truth. Kevin was always flirting with other girls and that was the reason why she was so jealous all the time.

"I bet you knew this already, didn't you?"

Zanya nodded while a tear rolled down her cheek.

At that moment, Zarana gave up. She identified with the girl, her niece, who was almost a woman, crying for the guy she loved. The girl reminded of herself, of the times she has also cried alone when she thinks of Blaine.

"I see. Now I understand why you cried when you left him," Zarana gave herself permission to accept that her niece was right. Both shared a common pain. The pain of losing someone they truly loved because that is not allowed when you are a Dreadnok.

Sighing, she placed both hands on Zanya's shoulder, and told her in a low voice, "Now you know how it feels…"

Zanya looked up at her aunt. To her surprise, she read sympathy in her eyes and felt connected to her. That feeling was a sign. Things were already changing between them.

"Yes, I do," Zanya spoke and added, "We are the only ones who can understand each other."

Zarana took a deep breath, not sure of what to say. Her niece had shared her feelings with her and clearly expected to hear hers. It was her turn. But those were things she has never shared with no one else.

"You know Zanya…The answer to your question is "yes". I fell in love with a Joe. Did Zartan tell you about it?"

"No, he didn't. After you and my Dad quarreled, it was easy for me to figure it out," Zanya answered, "If I asked you it was because I was curious… I want to understand why you let it happen. And why you let my father do the same thing to me! Besides, it is hard to believe. You in love with a Joe? It's a miracle you are still alive to tell me the story…"

"And what makes you think I will tell you my story?" Zarana inquired, going back to where she was seated by the fire.

"Because talking about it eases the pain? Because you can trust in me now." Zanya shrugged, daring to show a winsome smile, "Oh! C'mon Auntie, please. I'm dying to know!"

"All right! My story is not a secret after all," Zarana, more relaxed, beckoned her niece to sit by her side, "Zartan and some Dreads still bring the subject from time to time when they want to bother me. Of course, there are things my brother don't know because men are not capable of understand some things women only can!"

Zanya chuckled, seating next to her aunt, "I bet you met him in a night like this one. There was full moon."

Zarana smile at the comment, "Yes, the day I met him… well, that night, there was full moon."

"And his name? What was his name?" Zanya asked curiously, "How did you meet him?"

"Well…" Zarana sighed and began, "His name was Blaine. Blaine Parker. His codename _was_ Mainframe. He …" Zarana's voice quavered with emotion, her eyes filled with tears. She was still in the process of accepting that he _was_ _dead. _The hope that she might have the chance to see him again, the thought that he was somewhere, kept her love alive. Now she has to let the hope die, along with her love. From now on, the memories of what they lived will be her only comfort.

"I bet he was a computer genius," Zanya's commentary brought her back to her reality.

Taking a deep breath, she held back the tears and nodded. She was ready to continue her story.

The story of the best thing she ever had and let it go.

The story she never lets herself to forget because it keeps her alive.


End file.
